Word Origin & History

shag 1592, "cloth having a velvet nap on one side," from O.E. sceacga "rough matted hair or wool," cognate with O.N. skegg "beard," from P.Gmc. *skagjan, perhaps related to O.H.G. scahho "promontory," with a connecting sense of "jutting out, projecting." Of tobacco, "cut in fine shreds," it is recorded from 1789; of carpets, rugs, etc., from 1946. Shagbark as a type of hickory is from 1751. Shaggy is attested from c.1590 (earlier shagged, O.E.); shaggy-dog story first recorded 1945.